2022-Gala Program Online Honoree -4.14.2022

HONOREE
MYRIAM PAULA SARACHIK ’54, PhD +
National Academy of Sciences
Myriam Sarachik was a distinguished professor of
physics at City College of New York, where she
joined the faculty in 1964. She escaped from Belgium
during World War II and eventually emigrated to the
US in 1947. After graduating from Barnard, she earned
a master’s and doctorate from Columbia University
and then worked briefly at Bell Laboratories.
Professor Sarachik’s primary field of research was low-temperature
condensed matter physics. Her work provided the first experimental
confirmation of the Kondo effect, the scattering of conduction electrons
in a metal due to magnetic impurities. She and her colleagues also
provided important insights into quantum tunneling, a phenomenon where
an atom or other particle can appear on the other side of a barrier that
should be impossible for it to penetrate.
Professor Sarachik received numerous honors for her work, including
the Buckley Prize of the American Physical Society, the L’Oreal Prize, and
the American Physical Society’s Medal for Exceptional Achievement in
Research. She was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1995.
Professor Sarachik served as president of the American Physical Society
in 2003. In addition to her professional activities, she was an advocate
for women in STEM, mentored younger women in her field, and served on
committees that defended the rights of scientists around the world.
Professor Sarachik passed away in 2021.
+ Indicates deceased